The Nibelungen: the historical truth

Note: This site is still under construction. Unfortunately, I think I'll have
little time to expand it in the forseeable future. Therefore, it'll remain half finished
for a while. Nonetheless, you can find interesting things here.

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It is generally assumed that the great Germanic legendary heroes Dietrich von Bern and
the Nibelungen have their counterparts in history: Theodoric the Great and the
Burgundians of Late Antiquity.
Unfortunately, the stories told about these great heroes have no relation whatsoever
to the known historical facts. In addition, the heroes might be identified in
a radically different way.

Purpose of this site is to compare two theories:

The traditional theory outlined above

The new theory of Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg, who claims the Nibelungen were
not the Burgundians and Dietrich von Bern was in fact a fifth century
king of Bonn and not Theodoric the Great.

In 1981, Ritter published his book Die Nibelungen zogen nordwaerts,
in which he concluded that the 13th-century Thidrekssaga has retained many
place-names which can be traced to the 5th-century Rhineland, thus making
Dietrich, the Nibelungen and Siegfried Rhinelandic princes of the era of the
Great Migrations.

5th-century Burgundian history must be partially rewritten, since modern
historians have always assumed that the extirpation
of the Burgundians in 436 is reflected in the Nibelungenlied and therefore
has taken place on the Rhine (maybe near Worms).

we are forced to conclude that two Attila's the Hun have existed.

the (un)reliability of oral tradition must be reconsidered.

we finally have a chance to look at the era of the Great Migrations through
the eyes of the Germanic invaders.

All in all, enough points of interest to merit a website.

I advise new readers to follow the Introduction
first, since the subsidiary pages sometimes deal with very specialized matters
which can only be understood after reading all the introductory pages.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any comments, suggestions
or extra literature. Also contact me when the site appears not to be working as
it should.

Start the Introduction.
Hereafter, follow the "Continue the Introduction" links.